


You're worth taking a bullet for.

by Ensnaredinsanity



Category: The Flash (TV 2014)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/M, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-05-30
Updated: 2015-05-30
Packaged: 2018-04-01 23:51:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,016
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4039411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ensnaredinsanity/pseuds/Ensnaredinsanity
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Eddie saves Barry from bullies and gets beat up in the process</p>
            </blockquote>





	You're worth taking a bullet for.

**Author's Note:**

> I've REALLY started to ship thallen so this is my first flash fanfic. Enjoy!

“Hey dweeb!” A voice yelled from across the hall and Barry froze in his tracks, tightening the grip he had on his red backpack. The halls of S.T.A.R. high were empty at this point in time, considering the fact that most of the students had already begun their classes. Barry was late – again – and it appeared, so was someone else.

He began walking again, his sneakers squeaking on the tile floors and he prayed to god that Tony didn’t pursue him. Maybe this time he would get lucky, and Tony – who was the school bully and Barry’s personal tormentor – wouldn’t pursue him.

Unfortunately, he was out of luck as the sound of not one set of, but multiple, footsteps followed after him.

Barry slowed his pace, allowing them to catch up to him. There was no use in running. The group of bullies that was slowly gaining on him were all incredibly athletic, and while Barry was an incredibly fast runner, he doubted he could outrun all of them.

He spun on his heel, putting his hands up and getting ready to try and reason with his peers. But the moment he spun around, a fist smashed into his face, sending Barry flying.

Smashing against the lockers, Barry groaned, sliding to the ground and closed his eyes for a second, before opening them and meeting the cold, steel eyes of Tony.

Tony was huge, and while he was only a bit taller than Barry himself, the amount of muscle on his person made him seem like a giant. His eyes were dark green; his hair shaved into a sort of buzz cut and the only word that Barry could possibly use to describe him as was “Brute”.

He’d faced down Tony since freshman year, and by ‘faced down’, he meant ‘was beaten up’, the brute making it his own personal mission to make Barry’s life a living hell. Occasionally Tony would bully other students, like Barry’s friend Cisco, but it seemed like Barry was Tony’s favourite.

‘The Douchebag Squad” – as Iris had nicknamed them – were standing behind Tony, each of them glaring down at Barry. They followed Tony everywhere he went, as if they were lost puppies. Which meant that they were always there, ever since Tony had started to focus his attention on Barry.

The first was Kyle Nimbus, an eighteen year old who was kept down for fighting. Kyle was missing all the hair on his body due to a genetic mutation. He seemed to think of himself as a mobster, and often stood beside Tony wherever they were. The next was Mark Mardon, a seventeen year old whose younger brother had died last year, having been shot by Joe after running at the cops with a gun and threatening to kill everybody in the vicinity due to a mental breakdown. Mark had seemed to focus all of his rage about Joe killing his brother on Barry, becoming steadily more and more violent.

Then there was Leonard Snart and his sidekick Mick Rory. Leonard was always seen wearing a thick coat, as if it were snowing outside, where Mick was nearly always seen with a lighter or some matches in his hands. They weren’t like the others, they didn’t hang off Tony’s every word. Barry was almost certain that neither of them even liked Tony.

He’d faced them down thousands of times before.

Tony’s upper lip curled back into a sneer, “You think you can run from me faggot?”

And even though Barry had faced Tony and The Douchebag Squad down thousands of time in these halls, it didn’t stop the fear that was churning in his gut. But Barry didn’t let that fear show, he had learnt that after the first twenty confrontations with Tony. Showing that he was scared just gave Tony the more leverage to make Barry feel like shit.

“I was just rushing to science, I’m late and you know what Doctor Wells is like. I really don’t want detention,” Barry stood up on shaky legs, using the locker to support him. His face hurt, but luckily for him it wasn’t the nose or one of his eyes that had been hit, those would be a lot harder to explain than a slight bruise on his cheek.

He began to walk forward, hoping that maybe Tony would let him past. Only a small percentage of the school loved Doctor Wells, the other ninety-five percent feared him. He always had this look in his eyes apparently, like he was plotting your murder. Iris hated him, saying that everything about him screamed ‘Murderous’ or even ‘Fake’. But Barry was part of the percentage that loved him, so he didn’t see what Iris was talking about.

Tony, like most of the school, feared Doctor Wells, even though he would never admit it. Barry had seen the fear in his eyes after the Doctor had confronted him about graffiti in the bathrooms and as Wells was yelling, Barry was fairly certain that the school bully was going to wet his pants.

Unfortunately, Tony apparently wasn’t going to let his fear of a teacher stop him and Barry found himself on the ground a moment later, wheezing. Tony rubbed his knuckled from where his fist had connected with Barry’s gut, his eyes sparkling like it was Christmas.

“You really think you can walk away from me?” Tony snarled, like an enraged dog, “Me?! I am the king of this school and you are just a peasant.”

Tony was also delusional.

Barry didn’t answer, curling in on himself in preparation of what he knew was going to come and Tony kicked him, causing Barry to grunt. Tony kicked him again, this time hard enough to make Barry actually cry out.

Another kick, “Aw are you going to cry? Little Barry Allen is gonna cry!”

The Douchebag squad joined in and suddenly the entire group was kicking the shit out of Barry, and he could do nothing about it. What was he going to do? Fight back? He had tried that before, he had tried it more than once and it just ended in an even worse beating.

“Answer me freak!”

“Hey!” A voice called, one that Barry thought sounded familiar but couldn’t quite place, “What the hell are you doing?!”

Suddenly the kicking stopped but Barry didn’t move, still curled up in a ball with his eyes squeezed shut, he didn’t even remember shutting them, an his entire body pulsing with pain.

“Leave us alone Thawne,” Tony shouted and Barry heard the sounds of footsteps approaching, “This isn’t any of your business.”

Thawne. Eddie Thawne. Aka the hottest boy in the entire school, the captain of the football team and according to his best friend Iris “A literal ray of sunshine”. He didn’t know about the sunshine part, but the rest was true. If Barry had actually been out as Bisexual to anybody, he would have already spent hours talking about how gorgeous Eddie Thawne was. Everything about him was perfect, _everything._

But they’ve never spoken, so Eddie had no reason to help him. They weren’t friends, they weren’t even acquaintances. They were just people who went to the same school but had completely different lives. Barry was certain that Eddie didn’t even know what he looked like.

“You can’t just do that to somebody!” Eddie yelled and Barry uncurled himself from his ball, opening his eyes and looking around and yes, that was definitely Eddie Thawne walking towards them, looking incredibly furious, “Who the hell do you think you are?!”

“I’m the king of this school,” Tony growled, “Now leave before I put you in the hospital pretty boy.”

“No.” Eddie’s eyes were practically glowing with fury, his hands balled into fists and his entire body was tensed, “You’ll have to fight me to get me to leave.”

Tony shrugged, “So be it,” he motioned for his minions, “Get him.”

 

 

 

“That wasn’t very smart was it?” Barry grunted as they walked towards the nurses office, leaning on each other, “Why didn’t you just walk away?”

Eddie had gotten the absolute crap beaten out of him, but not as much as Barry. While Barry didn’t fight back, Eddie fought like someone who had nothing to lose, throwing punches and kicks as if his life depended on it. Of course, he was outnumbered, so it didn’t take very long before he too was subjected to a brutal beating. But at least he put up a fight, unlike Barry.

Eddie looked like a mess, the split lip and gigantic swollen eye on his face alone making it look like he’d just gone a few rounds with Mike Tyson. Usually they avoided the face when it came down to the really brutal beatings, but it appeared that Eddie fighting back was enough to warrant what was going to be one nasty black eye.

Eddie raised an eyebrow, “I wouldn’t even leave my worst enemy to those thugs.”

“Is that what I am?” Barry joked, “Your worst enemy? Wow we’ve known each other for five minutes and you’ve already made me your enemy.”

Eddie laughed, throwing his head back in a way that was completely and utterly adorable, and Barry couldn’t help but smile. Of course, the smile turned into a frown when Eddie coughed, groaning in pain and putting a hand to his ribs.

“We should hurry,” Barry told him, “Just in case something’s broken.”

“You did take quite a beating,” Eddie agreed, “For a moment I was worried they were going to kill you.”

“I meant _you,_ ” Barry replied, “You’re the one who’s at more of a risk. You really shouldn’t have done that. You got hurt and it’s my fault.”

He felt awful now, if he had just gotten to school earlier then Eddie wouldn’t have been hurt and they wouldn’t be having this conversation right now. But at the same time, Barry couldn’t help but feel a little grateful for the fact that somebody had stepped in. It was selfish, but he couldn’t help it. And now he was talking to Eddie Thawne, the most beautiful specimen on the planet.

“You’re welcome by the way.” Eddie told him as they limped across the hallway, trying to get to the nurses office before the bell rang. They were nearly there; just a few more metres and they would be safe and sound.

Eddie stopped suddenly and Barry had to do so too as to avoid falling over, “I’m Eddie by the way, Eddie Thawne.”

“I know,” Barry stated before realising what he had just said, “I mean, of course I know. Everyone knows. You’re captain of the football team, everyone knows who Eddie Thawne is. Not that I really go to your games, it’s not really my thing but I still know who you are. You’re THE Eddie Thawne, the really attractive Eddie Thawne. I’m not hitting on you by the way! I’m just stating that you’re attractive. You are attractive by the way, very attractive. Wow you have good genes. And now I’m going to shut up.”

Eddie was staring at him in an odd way, one that Barry had never been looked at before. He didn’t know how to explain that stare, except it didn’t make him uncomfortable, it made him feel like everything was okay in the world and that if he stared back, everything would be brilliant. It made his heart flip in his chest as if it were an acrobat and Barry couldn’t help but stare back. They stood there for a moment, just staring at each other. Eddie’s eyes were a beautiful blue, like the sea after a storm and his hair practically glowed gold in the light. Everything about him was perfect.  

Then Barry seemed to realise that he was staring and blinked, coughing and standing up straight, “I’m Barry by the way, Barry Allen.”

Eddie just smiled at him, a soft smile that made Barry’s knees weak. Or maybe that was the brutal beating he had received not five minutes ago, he didn’t know.

“I know.”

 

**Author's Note:**

> Find me on tumblr - A-Hero-In-Disguise


End file.
